The Ontario Brain Institute is a provincially‐funded, not‐for‐profit research centre seeking to maximize the impact of neuroscience and establish Ontario as a world leader in brain research, commercialization and care. Convergent partnerships are created between researchers, clinicians, industry, patients, and their advocates to foster discovery and deliver innovative products and services that improve the lives of those living with brain disorders.   Our Vision: Ontario as a world leader in brain research, commercialization and care.

Ontario Brain Institute

3W Partners, a Greater China and cross-border focused private equity firm

3W Partners

We help emerging technology companies accelerate their growth. Working at the intersection of strategy, marketing and finance we provide companies with the analytical tools to make strategic decisions that will fuel their growth and valuation. We help them figure out the best markets to serve, how to differentiate effectively, ensure product market fit, improve unit economics and raise capital.The Narwhal Project was also established to conduct research in order to discover the underlying factors that are essential to create world-class technology companies. Our objective is to understand how companies can accelerate their growth and how governments, companies, and academia can identify and adopt best practices in technology commercialization.

The Narwhal Project

Steadiwear

Steadiwear's flagship product is the Steadi-One, a battery-free glove that stabilizes the wrist joint for individuals with and Essential tremors. The Steadi-One technology was inspired by leading-edge earthquake dampers used in buildings. The Steadi-Two, a miniaturized version, is currently under development with very promising results. It is based on magnetic tuned damping technology, a novel class of stabilization systems. It consists of a counterbalancing flywheel in between programmable magnets. The system naturally adapts to different tremor severities. The Steadi-One and Steadi-Two are FDA & Health Canada registered Class I medical devices.

<div>Steadiwear provides a glove which reduces hand tremors related to Essential Tremor or Parkinson’s disease. The device allows free hand movements, but stiffens up using a smart fluid, when it encounters the quick, jerky movements of tremors. </div>

A concentration of wealth and a willingness to adopt age-in-place technologies present new opportunities.

Age Tech

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 Steadiwear provides a glove which reduces hand tremors related to Essential Tremor or Parkinson’s disease. The device allows free hand movements, but stiffens up using a smart fluid, when it encounters the quick, jerky movements of tremors. 
 
 
 This glove contrasts with alternative offerings to address hand tremors, which include medicine, potentially accompanied by side effects, and weighted gloves, which impede on voluntary movement at all times. Steadiwear has won multiple grants and awards since its inception in August 2015, with the most recent being a USD 2,500 prize, through the Baylis Medical People's Choice Award.  
 
 
 
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 Honor provides a platform for elderly persons and their families to find home care providers, and is one of the largest on-demand home care companies in the US. The company employs machine learning algorithms to its platform to optimize caregiving services.The company also partners with multiple independent homecare agencies and had over 40 home care agencies partnered as of October 2020. Its services were offered across six states (California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Ohio, and Michigan) as of October 2020.
 
 
 Honor generates a share of the revenue from the agencies by taking over a share of the agencies’ billing, hiring, training, and scheduling functions. Through these partnerships, Honor is able to expand the reach of its professional caregiver market, and scale its business. Honor raised USD 140 million in Series D funding led by Baillie Gifford in October 2020, and it intends to use the funds to expand into new markets and further invest in its care delivery platform. 
 
 
 In August 2021, Honor announced the acquisition of Home Instead, one of the largest home care providers in the US, at an undisclosed value. Following the deal, Home Instead is expected to operate as a subsidiary of Honor under the company’s original brand name led by its CEO Jeff Huber. 
 
 
 Home Instead provides a wide range of home care services to the elderly which includes companionship-based care, specific care solutions for dementia and Alzheimer’s, and live-in care. The company also provides home monitoring solutions including sensors, tablets, safety alarms and health apps. It partners with the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Applications (ORCHA) to provide quality assured apps for psychological wellbeing, physical activity, and mental stimulation. 
 
 
 As of August 2021, it has around 90,000 caregivers serving at 1,200 locations across the US and global markets. Home Instead acquired UK-based online platform SuperCarers in June 2020. It connects professional caregivers to elderly people seeking at-home care. Prior to the acquisition, SuperCarers had raised a total of GBP 4.9 million (USD 6.6 million).
 
 
 The merged entity is expected to combine for over USD 2.1 billion home care services revenue. In combining Home Instead’s global reach with Honor’s technology platform, the companies intend to improve the efficiency of home care services and enhance the professional development of caregivers by providing them with better career opportunities.
 
 
 In October 2021, the company raised USD 70 million in Series E funding and USD 300 million in debt financing. The equity funding round was led by Baillie Gifford, valuing Honor at USD 1.25 billion, while the debt financing was led by Perceptive Advisors. The company intended to use the funds for team expansion (tripling its engineering and product team) and expanding the operations and technology of the Home Instead network. Prior to this funding round, Honor raised USD 140 million in Series D funding led by Baillie Gifford in October 2020.
 
 
 
 
 
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Honor

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 Eargo specialises in developing hearing aid and related services. Eargo has four products in its lineup: namely, Eargo Max, Eargo Neo HiFi, Eargo 5 and Eargo 6. The company&rsquo;s products are unique due to its design meant to keep the device invisible when plugged in.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 The products are priced between USD 1,850 (Eargo Max) and USD 2,950 (Eargo 6) and as per the company, are around half of the price of the hearing aids&nbsp; provided via traditional channels in the US. The Eargo Neo range comes alongside an app and offers connected smart features such as audio personalization and control. The app allows the user to control the audio to suit their surroundings, customize settings, and contact Eargo's licensed hearing professionals for consultation and support.
 
 
 The company utilizes a business-to-consumer (D2C) online retail strategy compared to traditional business-to-business (B2B) model deployed by other manufacturers who sell their products through clinics. The strategy has proven beneficial through the Covid-19 pandemic as consumer footfall for brick-and-mortar clinics have declined.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 The company last raised funds in November 2022 when Patient Square Capital became the majority owner of Eargo through a conversion of its convertible notes. The gross proceeds from the transaction raised USD 32.5 million for Eargo, including an investment of USD 5.5 million by Patient Square Capital and an expense of USD 2.5 million in transaction-related expenses. The raised funds were set aside for working capital purposes and to fund Eargo's omni-channel growth strategy. 
 
 
 
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Eargo

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 K4Connect provides technology solutions to residents and staff members in senior living communities through its K4Community platform. The company was co-founded by Scott Moody who sold his fingerprint sensor technology company AuthenTec to Apple for USD 356 million in 2012, which then became the basis for Touch ID.
 
 
 The platform's offerings include digital voice and video communication, and&nbsp; community updates for residents. It also provides smart home automation through the provisioning of plug and play Alexa devices for residents and supports smart thermostats, smart lights, motion sensors, and sleep tracking devices. In addition, community staff members have access to tools for resident surveys, resident and family management, and communications. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the platform also established an expanded video chat service to facilitate resident-to-resident communication, staff requests, yoga classes, and dining room bookings. Further, in March 2020,&nbsp; it partnered with software communications firm Bandwidth to introduce a hotline for staff and residents as a means of keeping all parties up to date with community information.
 
 
 The platform is built on the company&rsquo;s patented operating system, FusionOS. The company claims that FusionOS is an advanced multi-modal edge-cloud architecture, the first of its kind in the senior living industry. Residents and staff can access the platform using a smartphone app or pre-provisioned tables in the living communities priced on a per-resident basis.
 
 
 As of July 2020, the platform served over 800 independent and assisted living senior living communities across the US. The platform serves over 29,000 users at more than 125 senior living communities across 27 customers as of February 2020, more than doubling its users from 2018, which it expects to repeat in 2020. The company has established channel partnerships with Allbridge (a data, video and voice solution provider for senior living) in July 2020, and Eskaton (a senior services provider) and White Horse Village (a continuing care retirement community) in May 2019. It collaborated with GlobalLogic (a digital product engineering company) in July 2020 to expedite the development schedule of&nbsp; its K4Community Plus app in response to Covid-19.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In July 2023, the company raised 
 USD 8.9 million in a funding round co-led by Bryce Catalyst and AXA Venture Partners, with participation from other venture capital firms. The funds raised were set aside to drive adoption of its platform in senior living communities. Additionally, the company also planned to invest in its patented operating system offering and community engagement suite. After the funding round, Mike Weller joined the company as COO. 
 
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K4Connect

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 CarePredict was founded by Former IBM consultant and tech veteran, Satish Movva, and produces Tempo smart wearables for the elderly community. Using machine learning (ML), the company claims the app can reduce the chance of a fall, and predict urinary tract infections (UTIs) and depression ahead of a clinical diagnosis. The device aims to assist caregivers in taking preventive action by detecting activities and behaviors which are precursors to health declines. The data from the device can also be shared with family members.&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 The company generates revenue from device sales and subscriptions. Independent research conducted in September 2020 indicated that facilities using CarePredict&rsquo;s wearables reported 40% fewer hospitalizations 69%, lower fall rates, 67% increased length of stay, and a 37% improved staff response rate than facilities that did not use CarePredict.&nbsp;
 
 
 The company expanded its operations in 2018 through its acquisition of WiseWare, a company selling activity-tracking jewelry for older users. In April 2020, it launched the PinPoint contact-tracing tools to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.&nbsp;
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In February 2021, the company &nbsp;announced its partnership with Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging (M4A). M4A is the agency behind the &ldquo;Providing Alzheimer's N' Dementia Assistance&rdquo; (PANDA) project. The company will be the first tech platform to be part of the project and will provide caregivers assistance in remote monitoring and preventive care using its smart wearables. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In July 2023, CarePredict raised USD 29 million in a Series A-3 funding round co-led by Aspire Healthtech Partners and SV Health Investors' Medtech Convergence Fund. The funds were set aside to be used to expand the company&rsquo;s operations and market presence.
 
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CarePredict

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 Eversound develops wireless headphone systems to enhance the level of engagement and social interaction for the elderly living in assisted living or memory care centres. The platform provides a library of programmed content on a variety of topics. The headphone system can be used to communicate with caregivers, during group events, family visits, and for music therapy. The headphones are equipped with a wireless transmitter and volume controls. It connects to external audio sources such as community A/V systems, televisions, and audio devices.&nbsp;
 
 
 The product was unveiled in May 2016. In a subsequent six month study conducted by LCB Senior Living community, group events leveraging the Eversound system resulted in an 18% reduction of residents falling asleep and a 28% increase in engagement during group events. In December 2016, the company expanded to 18 states across the US.
 
 
 In March 2020, as a part of its Covid-19 response, the company launched a live streamed, interactive content service to help seniors combat isolation. Further, as in-person visits at assisted living communities were interrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of Eversound&rsquo;s visitation package proved to be crucial for socially distanced in-person visits.
 
 
 As of December 2020, the company&rsquo;s product is being used in more than 700 senior living communities across the US. Its clients include senior living communities such as Brightview, Commonwealth, and Oakmont. In addition, Eversound has established partnerships with senior living communities (such as The Arbor Company,&nbsp; Bridges by EPOCH, Christian Horizons, and Kisco) to roll out its devices for family visitations, and programmable and live streamed content.
 
 
 
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Eversound

Many devices that help seniors operate independently and receive remote treatment use IoT

Offers digital platforms that support the wellness of the senior population

Some companies use VR to help treat seniors with conditions such as isolation and dementia

Tech-enabled equipment or companionship services that help elderly people function independently.

Steadiwear

Age Tech

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